【正文】 uages. That is why English today has an estimated vocabulary of over one million words, while other major languages have far fewer. 英語中絢麗多彩的雜亂無章現(xiàn)象羅伯特 3 Walkman is fascinating because it isn39。 possession (mine, yours)。例如，在二戰(zhàn)期間，溫斯頓當(dāng)時(shí)不列顛的居民凱爾特人使用的那些語言流傳下來主要成了威爾士語。一些人向東遷徙形成了印度和巴基斯坦的各種語言，有些人則向西漂泊，來到歐洲氣候較為溫暖的地區(qū)。 13 Then into this relatively peaceful land came the Vikings from Scandinavia. They also brought to English many words that begin with sk, like sky and skirt. But Old Norse and English both survived, and so you can rear a child (English) or raise a child (Norse). Other such pairs survive: wish and want, craft and skill, hide and skin. Each such addition gave English more richness, more variety. 接著北歐海盜從斯堪的納維亞來到了這塊相對(duì)和平的土地。例如，盎格魯－薩克遜語有kingly一詞，但諾曼人入侵后，royal 和 sovereign作為替代詞進(jìn)入了英語。 16 As settlers landed in North America and established the United States, English found itself with two sources American and British. Scholars in Britain worried that the language was out of control, and some wanted to set up an academy to decide which words were proper and which were not. Fortunately their idea has never been put into practice. 隨著移民在北美登陸并建立美國，英語出現(xiàn)了兩個(gè)源頭——美式英語和英式英語。最初的根芽在英國萌發(fā)，接著在美國生長壯大。A世界人口的五分之一講英語。英語的詞匯，語法形式，以及說寫方式演變深受科技發(fā)展、經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況，以及管理、文學(xué)、娛樂的影響。 the ability to integrate vocabulary from other languages。借助于計(jì)算機(jī)的通訊交際正在彌合英語口語與書面語之間的距離。但在其多樣性里存在一個(gè)統(tǒng)一的語法和一套核心詞匯。相反，它是一種全球通用的媒介。這種改換過程緩慢，難以預(yù)測。 18 English has been an international language for only 50 years. If the pattern follows the previous language trends, we still have about 100 years before a new language dominates the world. However, this does not mean that English is replacing or will replace other languages as many fear. Instead, it may supplement or coexist with languages by allowing strangers to municate across language boundaries. It may bee one tool that opens windows to the world, unlocks doors to opportunities, and expands our minds to new ideas. 英語成為國際語言至今僅有50年。然而，這并不意味著如許多人所擔(dān)心的那樣，英語正在或?qū)?huì)取代其他語言。 15 Because of these shifts in loyalties, more languages may disappear. Those remaining will rapidly get more native speakers. This includes English. 由于語言使用上的這些變動(dòng)，更多的語言可能會(huì)消失。 13 There is no reason to believe that any one other language will appear within the next 50 years to replace English. However, it is possible that English will not remain unchallenged in the 21st century. Rather, a small number of languages may share in importance each with a special area of influence. For example, Spanish is rising because of expanding trade and the increase of the Latino population in the United States. This could create a bilingual EnglishSpanish region. 沒有理由相信在未來50年內(nèi)會(huì)出現(xiàn)任何其他一種語言取代英語。 10 However, the future is unpredictable. There has never been a language so widely spread or spoken by so many people as English. So, there are no examples to help us predict what happens to a language when it achieves genuine world status. 然而，英語的未來無從預(yù)測。 8 English, like many languages, uses a phonetic alphabet and fairly basic grammar. But most importantly, it has a large and extensive vocabulary, of which about 80% is foreign. It has borrowed and continues to borrow words from Spanish and French, Hebrew and Arabic, HindiUrdu and Bengali, Malay and Chinese, as well as languages from West Africa and Polynesia. This language characteristic makes it unique in history. 英語像許多語言一樣使用語音字母以及比較基本的語法。 6 In science, English replaced German after World War Ⅱ. (3)With this technical and scientific dominance came the beginning of overall dominance by the language, first in Europe and then globally. 在科學(xué)領(lǐng)域，英語在二戰(zhàn)之后取代了德語。 4 When Mexican pilots land their airplanes in France, th